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Submarine Installation - CCRMA

A contact mic amplifies drips from a sink. An old piece of piping strapped to the railing emits the sounds of voices. Operating the towel dispenser causes a flurry of water sounds from the metal box attached. This installation explores the experience of being underwater in a confined space, through memories, stories and sounds. The physical and aural interventions promote an attentive listening awareness, transforming the space, and giving nuance, texture and material for thought to a locale that is defined by privacy and enclosure.

The spoken material is all taken from interviews of people who have worked and lived underwater in submarines or as divers, with reference to other confined and often windowless spaces (basements, rest rooms, etc.) There are also elements of music and sound; fragments of sea songs, a soprano singing about launching torpedoes ... A submarine is a world of contrasts: the claustrophobia of that windowless space floating within the boundless ocean.... or the material bounds of a small room containing your unlimited imagination.

Composers

Evelyn Ficarra

Brief Description

This installation, which is one of many outcomes of my longstanding submarine obsession, was mounted at the end of a week-long Sound Art Installation workshop at CCRMA (the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics) at Stanford University, run by Elaine Buckholtz and Sasha Leitman in July 2011. Thanks to Elaine, Sasha and Ian Winters for their advice and help with lighting, visual design and technical issues. Documentation includes images, an audio play-out and video footage.